Machine for perforating strips of paper.



Patented Oct. l, 190|. G. A. GREEN.

MACHINE FOR PERFORMING STRIPS 0F PAPER.

(Application led Mar. 28, 1901.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

WITNESS 7 m MZ/.

No. 683,687. Patented 0st. I, I90I.

G. A. GREEN. MACHINE FUR PERFDRATING STRIPS 0F PAPER. (Application filed Mm'. 28, 1901.) (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

N0. 683,687. Patented f. I, 390|. G. A. GREEN.

lNIAGHINE FOB PEBFORATING STRIPS 0F PAPER.

(Application filed Mm'. 2B, 1001.,

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE A. GREEN, OF DUXBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN S. WRIGHT, OF SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR PERFORATING STRIPS OF PAPER.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 683,687, dated October 1, 1901.

Application filed March 28, 1901. Serial No. 53,248, (No model.)

T all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, GEORGE A. GREEN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Duxbury, in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Machines for Perforating Strips of Paper, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to produce 1o a machine for perforating strips of paper such as are used in telegraphy for transmitters in connection with the Wheatstone and siphon-recorder or other systems and also for perforating strips of paper such as 15 are used in .musical instruments, dto.

The object of this invention is, further, to produce a machine for performing the functions hereinbefore recited with great speed, and which may be operated by persons enzo tirely ignorant of the telegraphic operators art.

The invention consists in amachine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding 2 5 motion to said strip of paper, a series of punches arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a series of levers arranged to actuate said punches, 'and a series of electrom aguets in circuit with said levers in combination with 3o a make-and-break device operated by a bank of keys, whereby said levers are actuated through said electromagnets to operate said punches and perforate said strip of paper.

The invention further consists in the com- 3 5 bination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly pointed out in the claims thereof.

Referring to the drawings, Figure lis a plan View of my improved machine for per- 4o forating strips or ribbons of papel'. Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1, looking toward the right in said figure. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section, partly in elevation, taken on line 3 3,

45 Fig. 1, illustrating the perforating mechanism. Fig. 4 is a det-ail plan view of the perforating mechanism. Fig. 5 is a detail end elevation of the strip-perforating punches. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a strip of paper per- 5o forated for a Siphon-recorder strip.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several view of the drawings.

The machine of this invention consists as a whole, first, of a machine 10 for perforating a strip of paper 11, said machine, as hereinafter described, being substantially the same in construction as the hand-operated perforating machines used in perforating strips of paper used in the Wheatstone system, but differs therefrom in being operated by a battery in circuit therewith, and, second, of a device 14 for making and breaking circuit with said perforating-machine. The make-and-break device 14 is inclosed in a casing 15, provided with doors 16 to provide access to the interior thereof. Upon the exterior of the casing is a series ot keys or knobs 17, arranged in banks. Said keys are fast to vertical rcciprocatory rods 1S, preferably square in cross-section and arranged to slide in guides 19, fast to the top of the casing 15, and in guides 20, formed in the guide-plate 21. supported upon a central standard 22, having a base 23, fast to the bottom of the casing 15. The lower ends of the rods 18 are cylindrical and are screw-threaded to receive the nuts 24, said nuts forming stops to limit the `upward movement of said rods. Felt or leather washers encircle the rods 18 below the keys 17 and above the nuts 24 to deaden the noise which would otherwise be caused by the keys striking the top of the casing at the end of the downward movement of the rods or by the nuts 24 striking the under side of the guide-plate2l at the end of the upward movement of said rods. The rods 18 are forced downwardly by the pressure of the operators finger upon the keys 17, and when said pressure is released the' rods are carried up to their normal position by a double flat spring 26, fastened at its central portion to the base 23 by screws and having its free ends curved and forked toformclaws 27,

which press firmly against studs or pins 2S, 9

fast to the cylindrical portion of the rods 18 and forming a metallic contact with said rods.

To the side of each of 'the rods 18 is adjustably fastened a at spring 29, curved outwardly in the form of an ogee from said rod The guide-plate 2l is.

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and provided with a platinum contact-point- 30 at its free end. In cach of the springs 29 is formed a slot 31, the upper edge thereof being inclined toward the rod 18 and arranged to engage a spring-catch 32, adjustably fastened to said rod. Vhen the rod 18 is depressed, the curved portion thereof engages the cam-shaped surface 33 upon a vertical flange 34 on the guide-plate 2l, forcing said spring inwardly toward the rod 18 until it engages the catch 32, and is held thereby in the position shown at the right of Fig. 2. Vhen the pressure upon the key is released, the spring 26 carries the rod 18 upwardly from the position in which the rod at the right of Fig. 1 is shown to that in which said rod is shown at the leftof said figure, and at the end of said upward movement the springcatch 32 strikes against the stop 35, fast to Athe underside of the top of the casing, and is thus forced downwardly at its outer end with relation to said rod and releases the contactspring 29, which snaps outwardly at its free end from said rod until the contact-point 30 thereon abuts against a vertical block 36 of ebonite or other insulating material fast to the under side of the top of the casing 15. Upon the face of the ebonite block 36, adjacent to the rods 1o', are embedded platinum contact-points 37 38 39, each point connected 'by an independent wire to a binding-screw 40, thence by independent wires 41 42 43 to electromagnets 44 45 46, the electromagnets being connected by the wire 47 tothe battery' 4S and the battery connected bythe wire 49 to the base 23.

The perforatiiig-machine 10, shown in Figs. 3 and 4, may be of any suitable construction. In this case said performing-machine is substantially the same as the VVhcatstone perforator in the principle of its operation, the same being arranged to perforate a Thompson Siphon recorder slip, as illustrated in Fig. 6. The strip of paper 11 to be perforated is fed forward by a toothed feed-wheel 50, and holes are punched therein", as shown in Fig. 6, by the punches 51, 52, and 53. Said punches are arranged in the same vertical plane and slide in'bearings in the guideplate 57, being held out of contact with the paper 11 by springs. The punches 51, 52, and 53 are forced through the strip of paper 11 by the levers 58, 59, and 60. Said levers are pivoted to the frame of the perforator at 61 and are actuated by the electromagnets 44, 45, and 46, respectively. The perforating-machine 10 is so constructed and arranged that the lever 58 upon being actuated by the electromagnet 44 will force the punches 5l and 52 through the paper and punch a hole in the upper and middle rows of the three rows of perforations in the strip of paper shown in Fig. 6. rlhe lever 59 is actuated by the electromagnet 45 and forces the punch 52 through the paper, makinga hole in the middle row of perforations, and the lever 60 is actuatedby the electromagnet 4G, forcing forward the punches 52 and 53, and thus making a hole in the middle and lowermost rows of the three rows of perforations in the strip 11. The middle row of perforations is used to feed the paper forward by means of the toothed feed-wheel 50, actuated by a pawl 62, pivoted to a lever 63, said lever pivoted to an arm 64, arranged to rock upon a pivot 65, fast to the frame 66, the arm 64, lever 63, and pawl 62 being held in the position shown in Fig. 4 by a spring 67, connected to the lever 63 by a link GS.

l It will be seen that any letter desired may be obtained by supplying the proper number of contact-points 37, 3S, and 39 upon the ebonite block 36 and connecting said contactpoints to the wires 41, 42, and 43, so that when the circuit is made the levers 58, 59, and 60 will be actuated to force the punches 51, 52, and 53 through the paper strip 11 in the order and in the relative location desired. Take, for instance, the letter A, Fig. 6. The first contact-point 37 is connected to the 'binding-screw 40 and thence to the wire 41.

The second contact-point would be connected to the wire 43 and the third contact-point to the wire 42. Vhen the contact-point 30 made contact with the point 37, the electromagnet 44 would actuate the lever 58 and force the punches 51 and 52 through the paper 11. As soon as the circuit is broken by the contactpoint 30 leaving the contact-point 37 the lever 58 returns to its normal position, the punches 51 and 52. are withdrawn from the paper, and the paper strip 11 is fed one space. The contact point 30 next makes contact with the contact-point 38, and the lever 60 is actiiated4 by the electromagnet 46, thus Aforcing the punches 52' and 53 through the paper, and upon the breaking of the circuit by the further depression of the contact-point 30 said lever 60 ret-urns to its normal position, the punches 52 and 53 are withdrawn from the paper, and the paper is fed another space. Finally, the contact-point 30 engages the contact-point 39 and the lever 59 forces the punch 52 through the paper, and upon the circuit being broken the said lever 59 returnsto its normal position and the punch 52 is withdrawn from the paper. Thus in one depression of the key 17 the paper strip 11 is perforated for the letter A and for the space between said letter A and the following letter, as indicated in Fig. 6. The letters d, dre., are perforated in a similar manner by arranging the contact-points upon the ebonite block 36 in the proper relation to each other to operate the levers 58, 59, and 60 and the punches 51, 52, and 53, as desired. Each letter in the bank of keys has an ebonite block, with contact-points thereon of the proper numberV and connected to the levers 58, 59, and 60 to actuate the punches 51, 52, and 53 at the proper time and in the proper relation to each other to perforate the strip of paper as may be desired. By reference to the strip of paper, Fig. 6, it Will be IOC IIO

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seen that any combination of perforations therein shown may be obtained by the three punches 5l, 52, and 53, arranged in a vertical line one above the other, the punches 5l and 52 being operated by one lever, the punch 52 alone by another lever, and the punches 52 and 53 by the third lever. A key 54, Fig. 1, is provided for spacing between the words.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding' motion to said strip of paper, a punch arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a lever arranged to actuate said punch, an electromagnet in circuit with said lever, a stationary contact-point, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod, and means for holding said contactspring out of Contact with said stationary contact-point during the movement of said rod in one direction.

2. A machine for perfor-ating a strip of paper, comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding motion to said strip of paper, a punch arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a lever arranged to actuate said punch, an electromagnet in circuit with said lever, a stationary contact-point, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod and arranged to engage said contactpoint during the movement of said rod in one direction, and means for holding said contact-spring out of contact with said stationary contact-point during its movement in the opposite direction.

3. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent "feeding motion to said strip of paper, a punch arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a lever arranged to actuate said punch, an electromagnet in circuit with said lever, a stationary contact-point, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod, a slotin said contact-spring, a springcatch fast to said rod arranged to enter said slot, and means to force said contact-spring into and out of engagement with said springcatch.

4. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding motion to said strip of paper, a punch arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a lever arranged to actuate said punch, an electromagnet in circuit with said lever, a stationary contact-point, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod, a slot in said con tact-spring, a springcatch carried by said rod arranged to enter said slot, and a stationary iiange arranged to engage said contact-spring when said reciprocatory rod is moving downwardly and force said contact-spring into engagement with said spring-catch.

5. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding motion to said strip of paper, a punch arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a lever arranged to actuate said punch, an electromagnet in circuit with said lever, a stationary contact-point, a recprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod, a slot in said contact-spring, a springcatch carried by said rod arranged to enter said slot, and a stationary iiange arranged to engage said contact-spring when said reciprocatory rod is moved downwardly and force said contact-springinto engagement with said spring-catch, and a stationary stop arranged to engage said spring-catch upon its upward movement and disengage the same from said contact-spring.

6. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding motion to said strip of paper, a series of punches arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a series of levers arranged to actuate said punches, a series of electromagnets in circuit with said levers, a series of stationary contact-points, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod, and means for holding said contactspring out of contact with said stationary contact-points during its movement in one direction.

7. A machine for perforating a strip of paper comprising mechanism for imparting an intermittent feeding motion to said strip of paper, a series of punches arranged to perforate said strip of paper, a series of levers arranged to actuate said punches, a series of electromagnets in circuit with said levers, a series of stationary contact-points, a reciprocatory rod, a contact-spring carried by said rod and arranged to engage said contactpoints during the movement of said rod in one direction, and means for holding said contact-spring out of contact with said stationary contact-points during its movement in the opposite direction.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing wit- DQSSBS.

GEORGE A.. GREEN. Witnesses:

CHARLEs S. GooDiNG, SYDNEY E. TAFT,

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